


Pine Trees and Gentle Kisses

by KazOfScotland



Series: KCAWS 30 Days of Winter Writing 2021 [14]
Category: Traces (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Gen, Reignited Relationship, Second Chances, post season 1 episode 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28793895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazOfScotland/pseuds/KazOfScotland
Summary: Emma never expected that she would hear from Daniel after he left Dundee. But then he messaged and invited her to visit his new cottage. Once she arrives she realises that maybe love doesn’t care about the mess that was their lives in Dundee.
Relationships: Emma Hedges/Daniel MacAfee
Series: KCAWS 30 Days of Winter Writing 2021 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2111565
Collections: 30 Days of Winter Writing





	Pine Trees and Gentle Kisses

This wasn’t what she had expected. Although to be perfectly honest, Emma had had no idea what to expect when Daniel contacted her to tell her that he had moved up to the Highlands of Scotland and if she ever wanted to visit or just escape from everything in Dundee then he would be more than happy to have her as a guest. To begin with she had ignored the message, she wasn’t sure if she wanted anything to do with him, especially after everything that had come out just before he left Dundee. 

But after a lot of soul searching, and also leaving Dundee and all of its influences, Emma finally replied to the message. It had been a voicemail, one that she had listened to so many times that she could repeat it off by heart and tell you every single cadence of his voice. It was strange in a way, she had known that she had an attachment to him when they first began to date, and their relationship had been a whirlwind, but as she listened to his message nearly daily whilst trying to decide if she wanted to respond, she realised that that attachment had never left her. 

She wasn’t sure if it was love, she was older and wiser now, it had been two years since she had last seen him, but she also knew that she had to see him again. She wasn’t sure whether it was to reignite what they had once had, or if it was to finally douse out any feelings between them and bring their entire connection and whirlwind romance to a close. If nothing else it would be a quiet escape from everyone knowing what happened to her dad and everything else. 

But when she arrived at Daniel’s she hadn’t expected him to be living away from the towns in a quiet little cottage surrounded by nothing but fields and forests. It was the perfect place to hide away from society and their prejudices towards you. She could understand why Daniel did it, there were so many accusations thrown at him because of Secrets Night Club, but then also because of his father. She had never been able to understand why people did so. Especially those who accused him of being no better than his father, the man who murdered her mother. As far as she believed, it was only those who had been close to her mother or close to Phil MacAfee who should make any judgements as they were the only ones who had been severely affected by his actions. 

Despite how unexpected Daniel’s house was, she also thought that it was perfect and if she wasn’t such a city girl, she would actually have loved to live somewhere like this. The woods that surrounded her smelt like pine, a smell she had come to identify with a fresh start. It was funny but there had been more than once that she had decided to move away from where she was staying, mainly because someone would find out about her mum and Phil MacAfee and she couldn’t handle the way people would dig in for details. But everytime she moved her aunt Julie would get her one of those car air fresheners that smelled like pine trees. 

She had been there for only a few hours when Daniel ventured out to find her sat on the bench outside his cottage. It was winter and the temperature was around freezing point, but she felt so calm for the first time since she was a child. It was amazing the way that she felt able to just breathe and be. 

“Em, are you coming in?” His voice, the low cadence, broke through to her consciousness and pulled her attention away from the thoughts that were floating slowly through her mind. The moment she had laid her eyes on him when she had arrived, everything she had felt towards him in Dundee had reignited and she honestly didn’t know why she thought it would have changed. 

“Yeah, in a minute,” Emma replied as she pulled her cardigan tighter around her. It was a warm hand knitted one that her aunt Julie had loaned her, it smelled like home but it, like the smell of the pine trees not that far off from Daniel’s cottage, made her feel safe and happy. 

“That’s what you said earlier…” Daniel trailed off and she turned to look at him. She pulled a lock of her long, now dark blonde, hair out of her face and behind her right ear. As she met his gaze she could tell why he had trailed off. He was looking at her with eyes full of love but he also looked nervous, as if he expected her to reject him. 

She didn’t know yet how to verbalise how she felt. That was something that had changed since everything that happened in Dundee, she had lost some confidence and wasn’t too happy to just sit and talk all of the time, but she knew she had to do something this time. 

So she uncurled her legs from underneath her and her cardigan and stood up. Daniel was still standing at the door of his cottage, he looked as handsome as he had the first day that they met, only this time he was dressed in a pair of well worn denim jeans and a soft and comfortable grey hoodie. She had seen him dressed casually, and he had always been well built, ever since the day that she had met him, but now he looked happier and somehow younger whilst keeping his already handsome looks. But there was more to how she felt about him than just his looks. And that was why she couldn’t hide the way that she felt. Even if she couldn’t say it. 

Once she had uncurled herself, she stood up and walked up to him. She paused in front of him, questioning whether what she was about to do was actually a good idea, and then she threw caution to the wind and placed her hand against his cheek. It was soft and gentle, a barely there touch, but she could feel the way that he was nervous and froze. However she knew that she had to follow through on her intention before she chickened out and convinced herself that it was a bad idea. She stood up ever so slightly on tiptoe and placed a gentle kiss to the corner of his lips. 

“Thank you.” 


End file.
